RTB 2012: Gangnam Style

Woah.  It's been over two months since Reach the Beach.  Life has kept me busy and away from this blog, but I still want to share a bit of a recap.  Take my hand as we jaunt down this 200 mile relay toward the beach.

The jump-shot.  Thanks to Sarah Y, a Warriors tradition since 2011.

Two Teams, Twenty-Three Runners
The word is out. The warriors are good. Real good. The best. And I know enough excellent people now to form two teams. After a few weeks of wrangling, 23 of us departed Brooklyn in four vans. Kevin and Mark joined us from the left coast this year, and Kara again flew in from Denver. Syed, Sarah, Dan, Daniel and I rounded out the returning alumni. The rest of the team was made up of South Central Brooklyn Runners. For the past couple years I've been dipping into my TNT team to pull a couple runners.  This year, my TNT friends made up the vast majority. We were joined by Rachel, Travis, Larry, Amanda, Sarah, Kristen, Brian, Carlota, Alexis, Kris, Chris, Laura, Farah, Caitlin and Suzy.

The 2012 Warriors

Gangnam Style 
I'm not one for pop sensations not called The Beatles, but this guy Psy and his Gangnam Style were the perfect set up for our team and the weekend.  The dancing started days before we left and continued into the departing vans. The first wave took off from Brooklyn around 10am and the second wave departed at 7pm.

We've had one van depart later in the past because of work schedules.  Along with the usual, Suzy actually few back from England to make the event that afternoon.  And Carlota negotiated with her super rigid schedule to duck out at 5pm and had to return to the office by noon on Sunday.  Yup, that meant a 6:30am return time.  But it was well worth it.

Facebook was a flurry of activity.  Rachel set up a Warriors 2012 group page and shared our commuting exploits.  This turned out to be a great way to keep up with the antics in the other three vans including Larry's singing, Caitlin's first McDonald's burger, and Kara and Farah hula hooping.

Greetings from Brattleboro (series 1 of 2).

Greetings from Brattleboro (series 2 of 2).

Ba da ba ba ba I'm lovin it!

Cluckin' Crazy.

BMs vs Kills
Our running times, while solid, were average when compared to the other 450 or so teams.  Our pooping prowess, on the other hand, was extraordinary.  Assuming all other teams counted their collective bowel movements during the race, I'm sure our numbers would top theirs. As Kristen expressed, She had a "PR in BMs!"  I wonder if there are other teams out there that count their poops.  Come to think of it, I don't think I've spotted any other vans with kill tallies either. Hmmm, maybe we just like to count.

Where is the Blinky!
It doesn't have to be as complicated as it turned out to be. But I forgot to give the safety gear talk Friday morning which would have explained the process on how we trade off the safety gear. Having two teams sharing the gear made it worse. I had meant to separate it all out and just totally forgot until dusk. In retrospect, I hope everyone involved agree this wasn't a big deal.  But at the time, everyone, including me, was freaking out.  On little sleep, under time pressure, and expectations to perform, a small issue isn't so small.  Cracks appeared. And some tears. But no one had keys thrown at them and no doors were slammed. Never did we turn on each other.

Laura models the latest safety fashion.

Night Run
Caitlin feared bears. Kristen couldn't see a damn thing. Amanda took a spill. Suzy was cursing my name, as was Rachel... and probably a few others. Rookies fear this run. Some hate it while they're doing it. But all eventually fall in love with it.  What's the allure of the night run at 3am?  For me it's the same draw I have to  running in the rain or a snow storm.  It's the new experience.  It's like a different type of tourism.  I'm not visiting a new place, but rather a new circumstance.  Pair that with a generous dose of runner's high and it's irresistible.

Ready for the night run.

We bad.

Jump-shot en la noche!

Dawn is coming.

Tear-away Pants meet Slo-mo Video
It doesn't get any better than this.  A couple years ago Kevin and I joked about how our next piece of warriors swag should be either tear away pants or booty shorts. I knew it would be fun, but could not come close to imagining the hilarity that ensued. And with the introduction of slow motion by the brilliant Amanda, well, I'm not going to bother describing this in words. Just watch the video.

Start Times and Finish Estimates
I did a bad job estimating our times this year. I was a bit rushed and didn't fill out my own excel spreadsheet correctly. My estimates were off.  But you know what else?  I realized this year that how we have been registering our time estimates with RTB has given them the perception that we are faster than we really are.  I'm going to change that for next year.  We're missing out on some of the creative fun from other teams. Generally, the slower teams are goofier. And though we've got some speed, our goofiness trounces our fastness (see BMs vs Kills above).

One of the 80 or so teams that we tagged.

I lost it
I yelled at Syed.  I've apologized to him already, but I'm gonna do it here, too.  Sorry, captain.  The man stepped up and took on the responsibility of being the captain of the other team and van daddy.  My frustration got the best of me.  Managing 23 personalities was overwhelming.  I fell victim to the very thing I warned my teammates about.  This event is naturally and inherently stressful.  That stress and exhaustion can be a catalyst for amazing things and hilarity or bitter things and broken friendships.

This year, I handed off a lot of responsibility to Syed, Rachel, Travis and Daniel. Alexis and Brian helped with van logistics, and Kevin again helped book hotels. Without these people we would not have pulled this adventure off, not just for the logistical tasks they took ownership of, but for their positive attitudes, energy, team mentality, and friendship. Thank you all for your help.

Syed can dig it.

Thank You Can I Have Another
I will forever quote MK's description of the weekend, "Reach the Beach is better than Christmas morning."  My Warriors feel this.  They've fallen in love with this weekend like I have and I've fallen in love with all of them because of it.  This Saturday, I'll be registering The Warriors once again for 2013.   It will be my seventh time returning to NH.  Yup, I'll have two teams, maybe three even.  Yup, I know it was hard to manage. And yup, I want it all again.

Smiles.

Warrior Tattoos

Leg one high fives.

Dan: Seek and Destroy

Rachel and her favorite Picards

Warriors *W* was big this year.

Amanda's well deserved finisher's medal.

The Warriors 2012 Edition